5097/Operation: Ominous Truth

Operation: Ominous Truth
Date of Scene:	19 February 2017
Location:	ADVENT Earth <XCOM>
Synopsis:	The resistance investigates an ADVENT blacksite, but what they find is more than they bargained for...
Cast of Characters:	1046, 571, 62, Karian Icefang, 1034, 673, Kotone Yamakawa

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Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The Avenger has rarely seen so much activity in many days; when everyone arrives, it's riled up like a kicked anthill, with soldiers, support staff, and everyone else running about preparing for what they know is going to be a huge mission. Up in the armory, Sgt. Jane Kelly is leading her squadmates in prepping, passing out flash grenades and frags, medkits and weapon modifications... Not too long after the call had been put out, everyone who needed a ride would be pushed onto the Skyranger, who quickly begins rising into the air... They'll be receiving their briefing en-route, it seems.

    Samira's voice crackles over the comms while her and Central appear on screens, both looking tense and expectant. "Good afternoon. We haven't much time, so I'll get down to business," Samira says solemnly. "Intel from the Resistance suggests that there have been many detainees brought to this Blacksite, yet no one can say what exactly is going on inside, nor where these detainees are held. Both of these things must be made known as swiftly as possible." Central cuts in grimly, "You can bet this place has got heavy security. ADVENT troopers, Sectoids, probably worse. Keep your heads in the game and make sure everyone gets home safe. Once we've ascertained the point of this damned site, we'll bring everyone out for evac."

    Kelly, Martinez, Thompson, and a new, poor rookie all settle into their seats aboard the Skyranger nervously as they're quickly brought to the point of insertion... those already on the ground would find that everything Central had said was the truth. Firstly, the facility is quite large, with a huge main building and several outbuildings, checkpoints along the road... and patrols. Plenty of those are going around. Train tracks cross the main building, leading to a loading bay containing several green cases... of what, it's too hard to tell at this distance. Only that the shipments are being brought into the main building a few at a time... methodically. Practiced.

    It takes roughly an hour or so for the Skyranger to come into their insertion... south of the main building, in the farthest corner of the facility. One of the two-story outbuildings is in front of the XCOM team, and there's no sign of any patrols... yet. They'll soon be coming to discover if they'd been found, but for now, everyone is concealed and ready to fight while Firebrand beats a hasty retreat.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    It feels wrong not having Olivera on this op.

    Maaka just stares where Gabi used to sit on the Ranger, just seeing some rookie. It's not obvious given her helmet, that death mask masking her features, but she looks less icy and more forlorn as she remembers the Brazilian trooper. The Lieutenant just grits her teeth, shaking her head as she regards Sgt. Kelly. The Irish scout fits well as a non-com, she's always been the reliable one among the soldiers as far as Maaka's concerned, and she gives Kelly a nod that speaks volumes even if she's entirely hidden in high-tech body armor.

    As the dropship makes its arrival, Maaka cocks her EM rifle and is up and off the bird first, leaping out and landing with a muted thud, before disappearing into the night with her cloaking device. "Durandal on-site. All stations, secure the LZ." She orders over comm, before she approaches the facility, her cloak only rippling with the faintest hints to naked eyes.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    "Big Sky inbound to AO. ETA two minutes." crackles the /Other/ Skyranger as it lumbers. It's not /as/ fast as Firebrand, but fast enough plus it has some additional hull-armour to withstand ground fire while inserting.

    Speaking of inserting, the Military XCOM team inserts via drop-line due north, about half-way between the Resistance team and the northern corner of the facility. They're not build for stealth or concealed approach, though they are making an effort of it. No heavy weapons here, but the pair of snipers make for high ground on landing, setting up to provide overwatch cover. "Strike Seven-actual on the ground. We're due north of Menace insert point. Will sweep the area. Over."

    "Big Sky beating feet. Use the blue smoke to call for evac."

    Bradford then crackles over radio, the younger one. "Alright Strike team, we're here to 'inspect' this facility. Don't expect ADVENT to roll out the red carpet. Try to stay in cover and not alert the whole base before you're ready to engage."

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Deploying alongside of the XCOM forces, Karian and his wolfguard take up positions. Quick hand gestures had the group changing over to a more stealthy approach, and by that, it's meant the change to their sword sized combat knives. Karian himself likewise changed to his knife, saving his greatsword for once they got into battle. But, Karian was quickly checking into his own vox coms. It seemed he had an ace in the hole as well.

Hrolfur Asgeirsson (1034) has posed:
    From the top of one of the nearby buildings, there's a brief flash of reflected light. Karian's ace in the hole was already in a position, and should one peer just right between the railings on the roof, they'd see the shape of a scout, dressed in his wolf pelt and carrying his stalker bolter. Hrolfur locks eyes with Karian, beating his fist against his chest in a Fenrisian salute before his voice comes low over the vox comms, hastily patched in to XCOM's own frequencies as well.

    "Standard patrol patterns. Minor Xenos numbers on the exterior. No interior visual, too dangerous."

    He lifted his head above the railings once more, pointing his rifle towards what seemed to be the main building, peering through the scope. He gives a hand signal to those on the ground, pointing to another building of some sort across the road. "Secondary vantage. Possible automated defenses, but clear shot on the main yard."

    To all but Karian and his fellow Wolves, he sounds quite military. But those with senses keen enough can sense Hrolfur's agitation. Before him lies Xenos prey, and he is tense and eager to hunt. The animal within is pulling at the chains, ready to be unleashed with the drop of a command, like a tense spring about to snap, tempered only by the presence of his companion Amarok, the powerful wolf crouched and hidden down on the ground floor, the beast's own heckles similarly risen, and teeth bared towards a group of unsuspecting ADVENT troopers.

Rory White (673) has posed:
The Paladins aren't cleared for involvement with the Avenger's activities, but there's MORE than enough evidence of illegal and inhumane activities in this zone to warrant investigation. Rory can't be seen to have had anything to do with the Avenger's activities, not for this all-critical mission that may just be exactly what the Paladins need. Her perspective should be unbiased, yes?

    And this is why she has come disguised as...

    ... A meteorite. Quite literally. An everyday occurence in high orbit, just a tiny person-sized object meeting upper atmosphere and crashing on in, glowing white-hot from friction as it hurtles ever onwards. But this object didn't start off by going thousands of kilometers a second - as it hits deeper and denser atmosphere it slows to hit terminal velocity. It slows even further upon opening, precision jets unleashing bursts of pressurized gases in huge - but invisible - plumes to counter momentum. The shell dissolves and with a final few jets of unleashed pressurized gas...

    A metal felinoid roughly the size of a mountain lion touches down pretty quietly near the black site's outskirts, its robotic optics flashing once.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Maaka's not the only one who seems to be missing Olivera. Magdelena Martinez is utterly silent through their breifing, quite a contrast to her normal demeanor when the Brazilian was with her. The hateful, dull flash of her eyes shows how much rage she's carrying... as does the way that she handles the machete in her lap, absently running her fingertips along the very edge... uncaring as tiny drips of her blood hit the floor. Kelly meanwhile responds to her nod with a grim one of her own before everyone finds themselves out of Firebrand's hold and down to the AO.

    Kelly grabs the rookie before she heads off to do something stupid. She's going to be in charge of the new girl's safety this time. The rest of them all fall into the closest outbuilding, with Thompson leading the way to an open door to allow anyone who wanted to go take cover inside. Doesn't exactly stop her from gawking at the Space Wolves when they come into view. Also, them being stealthy is a pretty hilarious proposition, too.

    With Strike-Seven, Kotone, and Rory all now on the field, the important part was to link up and begin their push into the main building. As the main group draws closer, however, they'd find their way impeded. It's a simple checkpoint, really, but this checkpoint as an automated turret and three ADVENT troopers, along with a larger, more humanoid Sectoid sniffing and hissing at the air. The sound of something large and metal striking the groundrepeatedly also sounds in the building beside the checkpoint.

    On Strike-Seven's end, they'd be able to push further towards the facility, too, but eventually their troopers will stumble onto another nest not fair from the railroad tracks near the main building. Two Vipers slither their patrol around the area, aided by three Troopers, one of them a Captain. Strike may not be an infilitration or concealment unit by any means, but they've still got the chance to go loud against their opponenets for free... for now.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian moved up with Durandal, after snapping a similar salute back to his scout. For all their armored bulk and size, they wolves could move with surprising stealth. But as they got close, they picked up on the hostile contacts. "Wait for the first shot, then let loose." He says. Then on a quick vox back to Hrolfur, Karian grins lightly. "Good hunting, Hrolfur." He says in their native language.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has recalled her coverstion with Eryl. If she was dispiosable and this failed so be it, there was little she could do. She knew there was much going. She didn't intnt to leave them out she's cloaked and she will be deploying on her own with Rory for the moment. she's very tense, very damn tense about this. Then again maybe being a Paladin doesn't really mean that much to her in the end. She is hear after all right?

<<You ready Rory?>>

She doesn't intend to be fighting here she knows they may have to get data though as best she can she doe get the link however and she takes an mental deep breath here they go.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Martinez's edginess is getting to Maaka on some level. She knew the trooper was close to Olivera, -very- close. Martinez was hit the worst when she got the news about her lover's death in the field, and was still mourning. To her, this was an excuse to get as much vengeance she could get...and Maaka's been down that road before. It's not a good route.

    She motions for Martinez to follow her, and Maaka swaps to her suppressed Kama pistol, heading toward the facility. Stopping behind cover, she keeps a hand up for Martinez to hold her fire, as she marks the number of targets, including something stumpy.

    The message comes in, those snakes are /Thin Men/. Her eyes widen, and Maaka keeps hidden. Hopefully Martinez takes the cyborg's advice.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Strike Seven fan out, the two snipers hanging back and using their link-up with the rest of the ground team to line up their shots, the SCOPE net linking the units together. The Assaults push forwards with the Support, laser rifle and shotguns sweeping for movement as the strike unit moves to stack up on the far side of a rock formation from the patrol group. "Long-Shot, got a bead?"
"Aye. Got that snake in my sights."
"Echo?"
"Lined up on the red-suited guy."
"Okay, All Strike, go on my mark."

    The Assault holds up a hand Five fingers extended. She then closes the fist in sequence, five. Four. Three. Two.

    Once the last finger closes, the group pop out of cover, and open fire. The red tracers of the .30cal snipers lance out, aiming to headshot the Viper and Captain respectively, while the two Shotgun assaults charge to get into range. The two Rifle users open fire on a Trooper and the other Viper, trying to pin them down long enough for the Buckshot Express to arrive.

Hrolfur Asgeirsson (1034) has posed:
    Hrolfur's gaze locked on the sectoid in the distance, the scope of his stalker bolter putting the crosshairs directly over the horrific creature's sternum. One squeeze. One squeeze of the trigger is all it would take, and he would just need to get the order. Thankfully, the order wasn't too far behind. With Karian commanding over Vox, there's a soft 'phut-phut' noise from his gun, the silenced shell fired as he uses the muzzle climb to shoot towards two points. Chest and head. At the worst, it'll startle them. At best, it'll leave a sectoid missing its upper half, and some confused troopers wondering why their friend just half-exploded.

    On the other front, Amarok seems to get some almost imperceptible command from Hrolfur, the wolf leaping out in time with Strike Seven, launching all of its massive bulk at the nearest trooper with a snarl. One would think that any normal wolf would struggle against the ADVENT armor, but Amarok is no normal wolf. A Fenrisian breed, the sound of the alloy armor crumpling and buckling under his jaws, followed by the messy wet ripping of a windpipe being crushed and torn free, all masked with savage snarling. If the aliens could feel fear, it would certainly be an imposing, if not terrifying, picture.

Rory White (673) has posed:
"Convergent evolution does not WORK THAT WAY." Rory quietly proclaims. Nearly inaudibly really. Except over the radio to her allies.

    <<Ready. Remember, we must try to avoid the ADVENT patrols. Gather data. Do not engage unless we must.>>

    Her felinoid form can apparently scale walls like a gecko, because she just slides straight down the building she's climbing on and lands behind some metal crates without making much of any sound.

    Her usual networking protocols are off. She's not using active sensors. It's rendered her largely blind and this... has her terrified. The extra optics on her tail are all she has to work with. It's uncomfortable, seeing only from her own perspective.

    For now, she peeks out very carefully, getting high-resolution visual and thermal scans of the Vipers.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    At least the Mexican killer is being obedient this time around. Just like they'd practiced, everyone was being incredibly cautious here. Being caught out would simply result in a useless sacrifice, and they can't afford to lose any more men. Kelly and the rook are skirting closer to the fight, though... Kelly seems like she's right interested in starting this fight and ending it immediately, and everyone else in Menace is on the same page with her. They get as close as they can dare without being spotted, even crawling on their bellies from time to time, until they're just about at the barriers across the street from the checkpoint.

    When Hrolfur takes his first shot, the Sectoid was slughtly haunched over, looking this way and that... the tiny shifts save it's head from being exploded, but the shell in it's chest buries itself deep and blows, leaving a head-sized hole where it's heart was. It doesn't even really get the chance to make any noise before it hits the ground. Simultaneously, Strike-Seven's snipers have their targets in range and ready to be fired on. At the same time as the Sectoid was losing it's life, the Captain does as well, much of it's heads and brains spewing out from the helmet and leaving an orange stain. The Viper, on the other hand, glances over, and in an instant--the bullet strikes it's hood in a gaze, and she hisses furiously up at the XCOM troopers before diving into cover. Fire comes from the Troopers remaining, while one of the snakes dares to come closer, daring to try and yank one of the Assaults towards her pisition with that ridiculously long tongue.

    The fight is on /everywhere/. There's an immediate sound of stomping coming from Menace's hostiles as everyone took cover. A bright white and grey ADVENT MEC, much more advanced than the shambling ruins in Julian's facility, comes out. A series of electronic beeps and a pointed finger in the direction of the revealed enemies, and the immense autocannon held in it's hand gets fired in their general direction. The turret itself goes right from where Hrol was shooting, and fires a burst.

    Suddenly on alert, ADVENT throughout the facility were stirring, headed to the point of contact. Kotone and Rory have a chance to come closer to the main building if they can manage to evade the routes ADVENT was taking.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    With the sounds of gunfire echoing out, Karian and his wolfguard knew the time for stealth was gone. "Forward, brothers. LEAVE NO XENOS STANDING!" He yells out, something he made sure his scout heard as well. The nearest group of ADVENT forces would find bolter fire aimed them with the intent to cut them down. Anything that got too close would find a combat knife flying with unnatural strength for any and all squishy bits.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Menace, on my six." Maaka orders quietly, motioning for the team to follow her loyally. She's fast, using her cloak to hide her as she leads the squad along. She pokes out from behind cover as she notes the Viper, and she motions for Kelly.

    "Flank that Viper, take her out." She orders the Sergeant, before she takes aim at additional tangos, specifically a Trooper with her 10mm. The pistol is whisper quiet, and still pinpoint accurate, a few shots from it ought to bring the soldier down.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    And there's that extendo-tongue Tygan warned them about. Seven-4 gets tangled in the sticky organ and yanked over, his arms pinned down so he can't even fire the shotgun now he's close. "Shit! It's got me!"

    The other Assault surges forwards, simultaneously slinging the Shotgun onto her back, and pulling an Alloy knife from her thigh slot. The laser pistol comes out on the return swing of her arm and she descends on the Viper constricting her teammate with a kiai. She slashes at the tongue itself with the blade, then shoves the emitter of the laser into the Viper's chest as Seven-4 stumbles away, wheezing from the constriction. "SHINU!"(DIE!). The laser whines into the ultrasonic, then discharges a flash pulse that instantly overheats the sidearm, but unloads a burst of short-range lazed light far in excess of its standard beam.

    The snipers glance to one another, then select new targets... those snakes will be hard to snipe... so instead they aim at the targets they know they can put down, the Troopers. The two long range shooters aim at the remaining Troopers in their group, and fire again, twin streaks of red tracer lancing out at the helmeted heads once they pop out of cover to shoot again.

    The laser rifles keep up fire, trying to keep the other Viper pinned down so it can't pull a Mortal Kombat move on either of the front liners. "Screw this. FRAG OUT!" shouts Seven-6, pulling the grenade off his bandolier and hucking the bleeping death apple over the cover the Viper is hidden behind.

Hrolfur Asgeirsson (1034) has posed:
    With the turret opening fire at him, it's too risky to return fire right now. Hit-and-move. That's the way he operates, but the problem is moving. The turret has a good angle on him, the magnetic rounds battering against the railing that is his cover, leaving some rather impressive dents. Turns out it's surprisingly easy for the turrets to keep track of something dressed in white fur. But Hrolfur isn't one to hunker down and wait. Quite the opposite. He didn't pack many, but he pulls out one of his krak grenades, priming it for a moment before tossing it towards the turret. Aiming and keeping safe is a tricky job however, and the grenade falls short of its intended target as Krolfur soaks a hit or two through the carapace armor he wears, his Space Marine blood rapidly coagulating to plug the wounds in his gut. On the upside, the high-explosive grenade falls at the corner of the building which the turret rests upon. Whether or not it takes out that corner of the building though? 50/50 chance...

    Meanwhile, Amarok seems to be done with his ADVENT trooper chewtoy and has upgraded himself to snarling at the Viper holding the assault. Problem is, he can't risk a move without potentially harming the captive. But the Fenrisian wolf isn't dumb, not by a long shot. He seems to be trying to occupy the viper's attention, letting the others move in to flank. Growls, snarls, even the occasional threatening snap towards the serpentine assailant.

Rory White (673) has posed:
With XCOM engaged, Rory White decides to take the moment to peek out from cover... and enter a mad dash forward, heading towards the front yard of this crazy tight-locked building. Why does it not even have any WINDOWS?! Big buildings should have windows, right? But this one doesn't...

    Clank clank clank, her paws tap against the metal surface as she speeds along making a dash as far as she can for that building and the nearest entrance...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone is going to be sneaking along here they need to not get noticed right? So away she goes she has faith in the squaddies and their other allies. Sjhe moves in keeping it slow not watingto set off anything shemight come andshe's going to do her damnest to avoid the ADVENT forces here. She takes a deep breath and keeops moving. She wonders for a moment at all of the chaos that is going on here, what are the ADVENT fighting to keep form being uncovered. She moves on and also keeps an eye out more trouble or maybe somewhere she can get into the local networks to snoops.

<<I don't like this Rory....keep frosty>>

She'll keep moving with Rory.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Unfortunately or the pods of ADVENT they'd found, they were caught unaware by forces far beyond their reckoning... aside from the various members of XCOM, of course. The Troopers over on both sides of the conflict are struck down quickly, simply unable to do much, and their seemingly stronger units are having a hard time. On the Resistance side, Martinez and Kelly wind up close to the action, and Martinez whips out her machete to slash through the last Trooper left over from Maaka and the assault of Wolves. That leaves Thompson and Kelly to start firing at the MEC unit. Thompson is able to shear off some of the armor on the thing, true, but their bullets are having a hard time penetrating... It would take some Wolf help to bring it down entirely. A krak grenade damaging the supports brings the turret down with a painful screech and a loud crash, sparking into the air.

    Back on Strike-Seven's battlefield, The VIper is pleased with it's initial catch, and it winds itself around the poor Assault rather quickly, almost lovingly constricting him in her embrace. It means she can't defend herself from another attack. Getting cut makes her release hold, and just before she can fight back, she's had a laser put through her chest, searing her and making the area reek of ruined scales and alien flesh. She's down, and the other is just about to bolt--and gets caught in a frag. She's alive, but barely, and dazed. The troopers simply get tapped by the long death of snipers.

    Everything was all clear for the combat teams, but the two little spies Rory and Ko have other problems. The only way to enter the building is on the corners... a garage door on the southwest corner, presumably for transporting and loading to the back of the facility. There are skylights and roof areas, but entrance to those is restricted to the inside. Towards the train tracks east, the 'front door' of the facility, seemingly an worker and security entrance. The other side may have more, but there's no windows. What they do see as they approach the building, however... Hrolfur had seen containers of some sort being unloaded from the trains. Bright and green. They're close enough to see inside... and it's humans. Dozens upon dozens of human beings in stasis pods, stacked neatly on top of each other like lumber. There's no telling how long they've been there, or if any of them are still alive. Only that there's more than a few stacks, leading toward the facility, implying their final destination. And it's being watched over by turrets. Be sneaky! One of them is already occasionally having fits due to seeing some of Rory's movement.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka swaps her pistol for her GASH again, firing upon the MEC to back up Kelly and Thompson, by the time the MEC goes down she's back to the sidearm as they approach the entrance to the facility. This might call for CQB, and her handgun is a better pick for indoor combat anyways.

    She kicks the door open, motioning for someone to shadow her as she sweeps the interior alertly and carefully. Then, she sees the tubes. "Holy shit." She says, quiet enough only for comms to pick it up, before she ducks behind cover. She knows they're still in enemy territory, best to keep stealthy as she evade detection, ducking behind nearby cover.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian follows in after Maaka and is taken back by what he see's. "By the throne..." He says. He looks over towards Maaka, and simply hands her his combat knife. "Hang onto this for me." He says simply. From his back, he draws his greatsword. "ADVENT wants to escalate things, we will accomodate. For every one human here, the Sons of Russ will kill 100 of the xenos." He swears.

Hrolfur Asgeirsson (1034) has posed:
    With the turret taken care of and the approach moving to indoors, Hrolfur vaults the railing, landing on the ground with a heavy thud and moving to the rest of the group. With the tanks filled with humans causing him to let loose a snarl of disgust, he's instinctively reaching for his demolition packs, keying in the sequences for remote detonation, despite the protests in his vox. The wolf inside him demands blood for the kidnapping and who knows what else performed on these humans. They may not be citizens of the Imperium, but they just as easily /could/ be, and that is causing his beast to slip free of its chains. "Morkai's arse, this site will burn for its heresy,"

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The area is secure, apart from the dazed Viper. Strike Seven-4 makes short work of that after shaking off the constriction, by racking the slide on his shotgun, and unloading a Buckshot Facial into the thing at point blank, after booting it so it can watch him shove the barrel in its mouth. BLAM.

    The four close range units move into the facility, angling to link up with Menace and the Space Wolves as the units converge. Every once in a while, an Assault pauses, placing a demolition charge on a structural beam, or against some explosive canisters. In amongst the stasis pods. Anywhere it'll cause damage.

    "Keep tight now, we don't want anything sneaking up on us."

Rory White (673) has posed:
<<I never figured out why that word was used that way.>> Rory idly comments, though her transmission goes dead the moment she comes across some of those tanks being transported around.

    The felinoid stops dead in 'her' tracks to observe and record, then duck behind cover. Because having seen it and recorded, she can bring up an AR window of the recording for further analysis without having to expose herself. "Some kind of preservation... or is it closer to dissolving? The subjects are either dead or in hibernation, but... either way... there would be nothing wrong with this if those were empty Morphs. But they are not. There is... no way that they are being properly mind uploaded first. I am sure of that."

    This is disgusting. Her experience and knowledge says that some humans would be vomiting right now. She feels no such urge. But her emotions twist and contort. Anger. Plenty of that. It simmers and bubbles and churns instead of boiling over, but there is certainly anger at play in her mental agency. This is horribly inhumane.

    The quadruped-bot stands, and pads onwards. Carefully slinking about under the turret's gaze.

    The turrets. Those things are definitely a problem. So the Felinoid opens its mouth wide... and...

    ... Barfs out a Chipmunk-bot, apparently. In Rory's view, she wills a line drawn in AR. A zigzaggy path through cover... and straight up the building to the turrets. It'll take a while to reach one of them, but she's setting up for a later gambit that might or might not pay off...

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Outside, ADVENT's hidden blacksite had gone quiet as the grave. Everyone that had attacked the station had left corpses and bombs as the heralds of their coming, their righteous fury... And, lo and behold, it had done enough good that they were able to start piecing together what exactly was going on at this site. The dozens of people stuck in stasis pods near the train tracks, right up against the edge of the main facility, was a bit of the puzzle brought to light. Even just that small part had sent everyone into a cold rage. Yet it still was only a glipse of the horror that they would witness when they finally dealt with the turrets guarding the building's upper perimeter and actually pushed inside the roughly four story building that appeared to serve as the main facility on-site. For some, anyway. Others had decided to make sure they wouldn't be snuck up on.

    Everyone came in through a doorway next to a security station; within a minute or two, they would find themselves in the main antichamber. THe first thing to greet their eyes was the center of the room, for a simple reason. Stacked five rows thick, three rows wide, and six rows tall, were yet more human beings floating in a bright green, bubbling liquid. As the team enters, the rows start to decend into the floor one by one, starting from their side... and each row showed the progression of disgust. The first row held full bodies. Two down, exposed musculatures. Another one, barely any skeleton.... the last held caustically bubbling skulls, or nothing at all. After a minute, everything is covered again as the pods drop and form into the bottom of a pool of the green liquid, but the damage was already done by far.

    Martinez stares with wide eyes and whispers a prayer to herself in Spanish, even if she'd long stopped believing. Thompson promptly turns and empties his stomach in a corner... and Kelly stares ahead blankly, her jaw muscles and hands tightly clenched. "Mother fuckers," is the only response she's capable of.

    And, wonder of wonders, when the last row drops, there appears to be an ADVENT security team! Four Troopers, a Captain and a Gunner amongst them, and another MEC unit turn to face their new guests and scramble into cover immediately.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    As if the alarm bells weren't already going off in Karian's mind, seeing the ADVENT security team in the tubes only confirmed what he had been worried about. He grips his his bolter and greatsword handles firmly as he turns. "They are using humans to augment their soldiers, it looks like. The ADVENT forces always looked too human for my taste."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka has seen shit like this before. She remembers being in the cyber-labs being taken apart and rebuild with new, incrementally upgraded bodies by the Izunagi. She remembers grievous injuries on holographic readouts illustrating the damage a terrorist attack left on her as a child.

    She remembers being just her upper body being left, and barely at that. The memories come flooding back as she stares at the test subjects in their tubes, mutilated and experimented upon with all-too human cruelty by inhuman hands. The destruction of this facility can't come soon enough.

    Shaking with fury, her hands tight like a vise, Maaka grits her teeth and raises her pistol the moment she hears ADVENT troopers arrive, and the cyborg loses any sense of mercy in her soul as she opens fire upon the troopers.

    She screams as she rushes the ADVENT soldiers, practically lunging at them with savagery as she brings her pistol to the nearest in reach, bashing the soldier's faceplate before she shoots him point-blank, firing twice before she draws her knife, thrusting into another's stomach and twisting the blade.

    Given her frightening speed, this might be either a terrible tactical error or just the thing to catch these guys off-guard.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Strike team remains outside. They have better armour and better weapons, so they decided to hold the perimeter. The Snipers shifted positions so they could get a better vantage point on the central building. That's when Seven-1 spotted the distant points of a pair of transports coming in. She calls it in. <<All points, be advised, we have a pair of transports coming in fast. They'll be in the AO in about two minutes.>>

    The rest of the Strike Team shift and take cover as red smoke canisters land to mark landing points. "We've gotta hold the line people. Take your shots and and give 'em hell!" calls Seven-3, priming a grenade for when the transports drop their payload. The Support prepares a smoke grenade of her own. "Smoke up!" dropping it so the red tinged field covers all four troopers. It's laced with aerosol combat drugs to give the group as much of an edge as they can get.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa nearly loses it, shehad no grand background like some of the people here she was just a bystander who got lucky nothing more nothing less. If you could call spending the rest of one's existance mostly as a machine? She was still here so she considered it luck to still bere here. Her Mind reels back perahsps in part due to some of the supression of certain chemical impluses.

she moces in now keeping linked iwth Rory she's torn away from the Pods but she will not forget this, hell every thing she experiances is admissable in court on her /world/. So that is something she mutters a prayer herself and wonders how do things like this happen. Rory would pick up on the prayer as she moves in.

<<Rory get any faces you can and start running them on the missing persons from the old Union Records>>.

She's yet to engage just yet, but she thinks it's almost time to do so.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory now has confirmation. her optics fixate on the descending capsules. She'd be chucking her cookies and trembling in rage were she biological. The impulse isn't there as a robot and her current form's 'face' isn't exactly expressive... but the anger's there. That... and terror.

    It's just like THAT DREADFUL DAY when the world died. The TITANs. The Fall.

    Memory after memory comes out of hiding and - despite lacking all biology - a /VERY VISIBLE SHUDDER/ runs through Rory's felinoid metal frame from head to tail.

    But Kotone needn't ask twice. Her facial recognition software has been cranking away from the first capsule she examined. She's making a full recording. Of everything. New pseudo-pod limbs slowly assemble on the Flexbot's back, each sprouting more optics and sensors. She's going to get a FULL recording of every bit of this place. Every face.

    Instead of going for cover though, she launches herself up one of the walls, climbing higher and higher and swooping around to make herself a VERY impractical target. She's hoping the aliens won't risk paying her mind when they've got her friends down at ground level to deal with should they risk looking up.

    <<I suspected we would find SOMETHING along these lines when we saw the capsules, but... actually seeing it. Words cannot describe it. This must stop.>>

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    At least the horrific display is gone, retracted down into the floor, hidden underneath gratings in the dark, green liquids. in the darkness. Still, it must feel as if this whole place has taken on a darkly sinister tone now, far worse than most would've imagined. Still, even if it only remained for a minute at most, every one of the Menace team, and probably more, would remember that minute for the rest of their lives. The moment of combat arriving brings feral faces to everyone, even goofy Cpl. Thompson.

    The rookie had taken cover and was trying to throw a grenade over just a bit before Maaka made her charge. "Fuck off!" Thompson joins in, screaming wordlessly as he opens up with his cannon at the MEC unit. Martinez and Kelly, on the other hand, were pushing in a little slower, following their captain, giving her covering fire with their shotguns before engaging in the melee. Kelly dives over cover and fires her buckshot point-blank into a Trooper's head, while Martinez takes the Gunner, chopping off his head. Still, the MEC unit loomed over them all, and try as he might, THompson can't take care of it all. It's winds up backing up a few steps so it can fire a grenade into the middle of the scrum, foe or not.

    Meanwhile, outside has it's own problems. Two hovering black troop transports make their landing points known by red flares lighting up, one on the roof of the eastern building that'd been cleared, and the other closer further north--at the other end of the facility, there might be another entrance. The group inside will have more guests soon. The transport that takes to the roof dumps off a standard contingent: three Troopers backed up by a Captain. The other one seems to be a another MEC unit. The squad has time to get some overwatch shots off as the gang that came for them all try to get into cover, though!

    As for Kotone and Rory--thankfully, none of these people appeared to be verifiably from any of the Union's former territories. It's more likely that these people are from this planet, perhaps kidnapped by ADVENT, or Resistance sympathizers. Remember the 'premptive arrests'? It might not lessen the horror, but it's something. Once Rory goes up into the ceiling, she's right in assuming everyone would rather pay attention to what's in front of them. She also gets an angle into the very last back room: a spindle of shiny grey steel holds up a vial of liquid, glowing remarkably brightly in the same color of whatever those poor wretches had been left to rot. Maybe the liquid was being pumped inside? She might get it before the MEC unit starts attempting to come inside. Kotone's got the chance to join the fight if she wants, or try to go for the vial with Rory. Things are starting to run fast, though. Now was the time for everyone to hurry.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    'BUTCHERS. GODLESS, INHUMAN, UNFEELING BUTCHERS.' are the only rational thoughts in Maaka's head right now. Her brain is a symphony of disgusted hate and anger for anything and anyone bearing the symbol for ADVENT, a symbol for callous cruelty and sociopathic disregard for humane research.

    THe thought of the LEague, and those who are part of it, come to mind in Maaka's head, as she drives her blade over and over in searing rage of a long dead ADVENT soldier. She can no longer be a part of any organization championing this sort of 'science', this perversion of the very concept of scientific pursuit.

    She fights with savagery yes, but she's still a soldier, and she acts like it. Joint-locks and elbow strikes, even pistol whips, are used in tandem with precise knife-strikes and kicks before she focuses on the MEC.

    Menace will be outmatched if that thing isn't illed soon, and Maaka decides to do something about it. "WOLFLORD, TAKE OUT THAT MEC!" She barks harshly amid the melee, as she swaps from pistol and knife to her EM GASH rifle again, firing the underslung launcher at the MEC as she goes wide, moving and firing double-taps to suppress the mechanical foe.

Karian Icefang has posed:
5tKarian watches as Maaka makes her charge out to the AVENT forces and nods. "Brothers, fan out and assist XCOM operations." He orders. His men fan out, moving to attach to every member of the combined ops. Thompson would find himself being protected by the massive armored bulk of a Space Wolf, ready to move in and take the brunt of the grenade impact. As for Karian, he howls out like a beast possessed and runs right for the nearest MEC trooper, firing round out at the troopers and officer. "YOU SHALL KNOW THE ALLFATHER'S FURY, XENOS! NO MERCY, NO REMORSE, NO REGRET!!!"

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Strike team break cover and open fire, lancing red laser beams across the MEC, trying to melt through the armour to at least make it an easier target once it gets out of range. The Assaults with shotguns shift positions, and charge the MEC's support group, firing buckshot blasts to get their heads down. Seven-1 and Seven-5 shift their tender mercies to the Trooper group on the roof, firing timed shots of .30cal tracer at the Captain and one of the Troopers, aiming to take them out of the fight as soon as possible. <<Transports have landed. Troopr and MEC unit. Breach team, you're gonna have company real fast, we can't hold them all off!>> calls in Seven-1, as she racks the bolt on her rifle and aims for another shot.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory's quite happy to be manuevering over the walls, as her hunch was right. She zips stealthily as possible - if the aliens weren't busy fightin there's no way they wouldn't hear her, really - towards the distant pad where the strange liquid waits to get a closer look, sensors all turning towards her quarry: that vial.

    As soon as possible she'll try to slip up close to it, check for any traps (unlikely, she figures, beyond alarms) and if the coast seems clear... snatch the thing up and place it into an internal compartment.

    ...Which looks an awful lot like eating it.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa knows she's asking a lot of Rory but she doesn't have the full on software to do that while her own kills are going to ahve her to push on. None of them are from. She'll have to chekcx but so long as they can find some odf the people form thelist that XCOM had been looking for with the union it woudl be something to go by and it looks like this migth be qhat they are looking for. This is however a massive sapient's right violation one way o another.

She'll be trying to keep cloaked as she moves in but she luck won't hold out for ever at this point. Either wayit's horrific. Kotone's going to try to push furhter into factory with Rory. She trusts in the others to deal with the ADVENT and this is the data they hopefully need to deal with certain issues or it could be her ending upbeing turned over to the Advent whoknows and at this point she doesn't /care/.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Magdelena is screaming in terrible joy as she got down into the blood and muck with her CO, seemingly attacking without any thoughts as to her own protection. Kelly wasn't much better than Maaka was, though she keeps to her shotgun and blowing the Captain to pieces after he tried to mark Maaka for a pinpoint strike. Once it runs dry, she simply lets it hang from it's strap on her shoulder and goes for her combat knife. Sucks that she didn't have any grenades left. The rookie and Thompson both had to reload as well, after awhile, leaving the MEC unit dinged and bruised, some of it's armor broken, but still alive.

    Those two are also saved from blowing up terribly when the MEC launches a grenade, being covered from the armor-shredding explosion... Though who knows what would happen if it were to face up against the adamant armor of a Space Marine. The Wolves were left with dealing with the MEC unit for the rest. Some of it's armor remains strong, but eventually a hail of bolter fire will silence it. The only problem is, the next Mec is already at the door, seemingly ignoring Strike's blasts against it's armor. It's just big enough to allow the automated unit to enter the building, and spots a few things. One was the fact that there was a drone eating ADVENT's Very Shiny Object, which naturally tripped silent alarms, and that the others ended up being a distant second for now. A burst of fire is leveled at Rory's shell with it's autocannon, and another red dropzone flare shines up outside, in Strike team's view. It won't take them long to arrive.

    At least Strike has managed to pin down the Trooper squad fairly easily. They go for cover quickly to avoid taking shotgun fire. Sadly, one Trooper doesn't make it to cover, because his head exploded from a sniper bullet, and his Captain follows not long after. The troopers try to peek and return fire with their mag rifles, but there's only two of them left. It's the newcomers that have to be worried about.

    With all the evidence in front of them, Samira stirs in her chair while she tries to force the dark images in her ehad away, along with the pounding headaches they brought. They have what they came for... it was time to go. "Ngh... I'm issuing a full retreat. Firebrand is en route for evac. We have what we came for. Let this evil place burn."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    As the battle draws to a close, Maaka's armor clanks. She feels every wound she sustained in battle, with bullet wounds and shrapnel, and so forth.

    She breathes heavily, her grip loosening on her rifle as she fires upon the surviving ADVENT troopers. Knowing Firebrand is near gives her some solace as she launches a grenade round at the last two.

    "Let's get the fuck out of here." She growls, before she makes her way toward the red flare, jogging without delay.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian growls over his kill, akin to a wolf. But at the call of evac, he nods. "Brothers, move to extraction. Carry any XCOM assets that require such if need be. No one is left behind, nor dies today." He orders. To that extent, he moves to cover and help Maaka make her way out.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
     The Strike team manage to get the troopers heads down. The shotgunners stopping behind a toppled set of stasis pods. Seven-3 hucks her grenade over the cover where the troopers are hiding, before spotting that red smoke beacon. <<Shit! We've got a problem out here! More incoming. We're gonna get caught in a crossfire!>> She then shifts to in-unit comms. "Two, Six, what's your status?" "Good to go." "Right, move it. Bradford's given us another evac point. Four and I will hold back and buy the rest of you some time."

    Seven-1 calls in. <ETA 30 seconds on that transport.>> She looks at Seven-5. "Relocate, cover the others as they fall back." "Agreed. Move, I'll cover you." The Snipers split up, One standing and sprinting off towards a dropped blue smoke beacon as the deep thrum of Big Sky's engines grows closer.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone is now moving in deeper into the compelx andshe somehow feels ick to think about what's going on. She and Rory need to get the item and get the hell out, which is just what she's going to do. It's honestly worse than she feared when it came down to it.

<<Rory we need to get it and go I'll carry it if needed. This place is going up and everyone else is pulling out!>>

IF needed and able she'll snatch the item and make ready to go.

Rory White (673) has posed:
UH-OH! It's a darned good thing that Rory dedicated some of her Flexbot mass to reinforcing the chamber that vial will be held in.

    Because the rest of her bot gets half-shredded by a storm of bullets she isn't quite quick enough to dodge. They tear through her Morph, drawing sprays of sparks and sending silvery shards of microbot clumps every which way. She goes skidding across the ground from sheer impact...body spraying sparks.

    But the Morph's microbots shift and accomodate. A leg that was almost split in two recombines. The Flexbot has mass remaining and it redistriutes everything it can spare to restore mobility and patch major faults. In about ten seconds The Felinoid staggers upright again, and springs for an exit!

    <<My Morph still functions! We just need to hold out a little longer!>>

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Now it seemed to be the time for running battles. Given time by the MEC unit focusing on the vial instead of everyone else, the freshly reloaded XCOM squad spray fire at the thing after it's done firing at Rory. They're also in the middle o backing up, trying to get to the evac point southwest. It was in reach if everyone sprinted, but... the garage door that lead outside ewas still closed. It's not especially thick, though, so a couple of Space Wolves could break through it easily by running through it. The familiar scream of Firebrand's Skyranger echoes in the facility as she starts to hover just over the facility. "Radar is hot as fuck, kiddos. Dustup in five, so bust it!"

    The MEC unit just took a lot of fire, so it gives Rory the precious time to get herself mobile again and move out of danger before the MEC fires another shot. All she'd need to do is find some opening in the garage and get aboard the Skyranger, or her own transport. That being said, the robot is still alive, and as the team tries to flee it strafes the area with a spray of it's autocannon, perhaps attempting to make them slow down and put their heads down.

    Outside, Strike has cleared the last of the remaining Troopers with the grenade, but the next troop transport is already on the horizon and moving quickly to disperse it's cargo. THe path behind the MEC was still good if they ran as fast as they could, but the next drop point is between them and their evac.

    Ropes drop from the Skyranger as soon as she spots anything moving beneath her. "Get up, get up! Seraph, you're bringin' that thing to the COmmander and the doc! Let's go!"

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian moves with all the speed his augmented legs and body could grant him. Once he was sure that Maaka was safe, he changed priorities towards the snipers and those who stayed back to provide cover. "Let's move. No one stays behind. We'll extract last."

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Strike Seven-3 tchs. "Damn it. We've got to break through. Two, Six, cover fight. Four, you're with me. We blitz the drop site. One, Five, you'd better be covering us..." The shotgunners break cover and haul ass out behind crates near the drop site. The riflemen hang back a bit further, while the snipers line up on targets. Once the ADVENT drop from their transport, they get showered by opportunity shots, then the riflemen sprint through the broken line, hauling ass while the shotgunners do their best to keep the survivors pinned down.

    Snipers take over suprpessive fire as the Shotgunners start running, the Riflemen turning back to lay down cover in a hectic race to get to the dropship. "Radar is lighting up like a christmas tree people, get aboard now. Dust off in two!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka wastes no time covering the others, especially Rory as she lets loose with EM fire. "I got your back, Seraph, move your arse!" She barks loudly over the roar of gunfire, before she sprints towards the Skyranger's ropes, hooking on as she flashes a thumbs up to the crew, and is pulled upwards to the aircraft.

Rory White (673) has posed:
DASH DASH DASH! Rory's body sprays yet more sparks, but the Flexbot is tougher than it looks. It can take a bit more than that and remain mobile! ... Shapeshift-able though, is another story. Rory's body staggers and jitters as she nears the rope... but she eventually manages to leap up and CLAMP HER JAWS down on the rope. This seems to be enough for hauling her up, since she sure as hell can't climb a rope in feline form too well.

    "Pull me up then! I have the... sample!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is now making out with Rory she's moving her cloakes off line at this point due to how fast she's moving. She's got to get out of here she's one of the last ones to get out though as she moves for the lines like hell is on her hells and let face it? It truly is in a way.

"Time to go and get the hell out of here!"

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The XCOM team, plus Seraph and Samsara and Maaka, make it to the Skyranger in good speed... the ropes are immediately hoisted as soon as everyone was ready, and the craft lifts off while the ramp closed. By the time everyone is up, the transport is already dropping it's cargo of ADVENT troops, but she still buzzes it as she starts wipping for an exit, flipping it o rom the cockpit as she goes. "You're lucky I don't have any goddamn guns, you fucking bastards..." She hisses under her breath. "Everyone hold on, we're streaking for the Avenger at top speed."

    The dropship gives of a group of three: another MEC unit, a Captain, and a Stun Lancer. Not a large group, but still a dangerous one. If everyone could get out before they have time to appraise the battlefield, though, they could just run away to let the demolitions take care of them with the rest of the facility.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    While running past the MEC, Seven-4 casually tosses a mag-lock explosive that latches onto the backplate, just beneath the grenade launcher. The six Strike members get aboard the Skyranger, and Seven-3 crows at the ADVENT on the ground. "BURN IN HELL ALIEN ASSHOLES!" as she presses the detonator, sending all the demolition charges off in a staggered sequence across the whole side of the base that Strike Team moved across. And finally, the one latched onto the MEC.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian and his men manage to find room in one of the incoming skyrangers and as they leave the area, he hits the command for the melta charges to go off. In a satifying sound of burning oxygen and massive explosions, the charges cut through anything they were on, and any poor alien nearby would learn what their plasma would feel like. "Vengence for the fallen. In the Allfather's name."